The Trail Blazers have cooled off a bit after their scorching ten game winning streak, but at 39-21 are still on pace to finish with one of the league's top records. Suffering a 43 point loss to the Thunder, who lead them by a game and hold the tiebreaker for the 2 seed is not a good look, but overall Portland appears primed to make a deep playoff run. With 22 games remaining, the key now is to maintain that top three seed, while staying healthy.

Were the post-season to start today, the first round matchup would be the 32-27 Kings, who Portland went 2-1 against in the season series. Match-ups against the Rockets, Spurs and Clippers are all distinct possibilities as well. Regardless of who the Trail Blazers play, it appears that conference finals or bust is the sentiment of the Blazers' brain trust.

Also, shout-out to Damian Lillard for redeeming himself after that horrible 3-point shootout performance by winning the All-Star game MVP. He was chucking it out there but he got 34 points and the W so…

GALLERY

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Golden State continues to dominate, having won eight straight. Would anyone be that shocked if they close out the year with a 28 game win streak to win 70 again? Maybe a little, but it could happen. While the top four in the West seems to be set (props to the surging Grizzlies who are winning without Conley somehow), it's a surprisingly tight race for the lower four seeds, with only the Suns and Mavericks more or less out of it.

In the East, the Chicago Bulls continue to shock the world, by overtaking Cleveland for first in the conference. Of course, the Cavs proved in the finals last year that home court advantage isn't everything. Still, Fred Hoiberg coach of the year will never not sound weird.

The Portland Trail Blazers will be sporting a new look next season! They will be wearing new jerseys, and their court will have a new design, as seen in the photo below. Furthermore, it was announced that the Moda Center will go back to its original title, the Rose Garden.

Trevor Booker (BKN) out for season with torn achillesSo much for that last-minute playoff run...Dante Exum (UTA) out 2-4 months with fractured left legUtah's offense should get a boost from this. Also ouch!Taj Gibson (CHI) out 6-8 weeks with torn left MCLInjuries continue to pile up for the Bulls, who win despite all oddsArron Afflalo (SAC) out 4-6 weeks with broken right handTough break for the Kings, who are fighting for a playoff spot

The first game of March was a gut-punch for the Blazers. While they did narrowly defeat the Mavericks in Dallas despite 30 from Harrison Barnes, it came at a cost as starting power forward Al-Farouq Aminu suffered a broken ankle, sidelining him until at least the playoffs. The Blazers went back and forth starting Leonard and Vonleh, ultimately deciding on Leonard with Alan Williams getting spot minutes.

They got blown out at home by 27 points by the Raptors, but would go on to win ten of their next fourteen, including a five game winning streak that saw them clinch a playoff berth, separate themselves from the fourth place Grizzlies, and get revenge with an OT win over the Clippers. While the defense has been as suspect as ever, particularly blatant in a 120-103 loss to the Wolves, the team nonetheless looks to be in good form heading into the postseason. The bad news? Their opponent will likely either be the Houston Rockets, who they've struggled with, or the San Antonio Spurs, who are well, the Spurs.

Sonics, Wolves, Kings In Three Way Tie For Last Two SpotsThey all suck thoughWarriors Claim League's Best Record For Third Straight YearFuck KDWestbrook, LeBron, Curry Lead MVP RaceWHAT ABOUT LILLARD?!?!?!?!!11?/!??Rookie of the Year favorite Simmons carrying Sixers to playoffs#trusttheprocess #hinkie #notmypresidentMillsap, Randolph, Redick to Test Free Agencytryna get that solomon hill money

The Portland Trail Blazers managed to lock down the 3 seed with solid play down the stretch. They finished the season with a record of 53-29, twelve games behind the #1 Warriors. Portland rested their starters in the season finale, a loss against the Lakers in which Pat Connaughton and Noah Vonleh both posted career scoring highs. They will now take their talents to the playoffs, in which they will face the #6 seeded Houston Rockets in a rematch of their 2014 playoff series.

Unfortunately, backup center Festus Ezeli has suffered an ankle injury (why always ankle injuries with us this season?) and will miss 4-6 weeks. Hopefully we do well enough to see him come back this season. In the meantime. Either JaVale McGee or Alan Williams will need to step up in his absence. Al-Farouq Aminu is expected back soon, but has not been cleared to play game 1.

Damian Lillard: 25.5 PPG, 8.5 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 3.2 TOPG (.474% / .406% / .915)Lillard was a beast all year - what else is new? Disgracefully an afterthought in the MVP race, Lillard has continued to improve, upping his assists average considerably and continuing to be one of the league's most prolific scorers.Grade: A+

CJ McCollum: 23.5 PPG, 4.8 APG, 2.9 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 2.7 TOPG (.490% / .469% / .836%)A season removed from winning the most improved player award, McCollum arguably had a case to win it again. His raw stats only had a modest jump, but his efficiency was off the charts. However, injuries held him back, likely costing him an all-star selection as well as 25 or so games.Grade: A-

Evan Turner: 12.3 PPG, 6.0 APG, 4.9 RPG (.471% / .274% / .903%)The addition of Evan Turner seemed like a square peg in a round hole going into the season, but Turner's solid all-around play has been huge for the Blazers, though not headline-grabbing. Turner seems to have finally found his place in this league.Grade: B+

Al-Farouq Aminu: 9.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.1 BPG (.412% / .363% / .790%)Aminu's numbers leave something to be desired, but his versatility has been missed in the games he's been out. Though he's one of the worse rebounders at the power forward position, he holds his own defensively, and his floor spacing is essential with Evan Turner on the floor.Grade: B+

Ed Davis: 5.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.2 BPG (.577% / .000% / .578%)Ed Davis took over the starting spot when Ezeli went down the first time, and that's right when the team got on a role. He's solid but absolutely nothing special.Grade: B

Allen Crabbe: 12.2 PPG, 2.3 RPG (.426% / .343% / .898%)Crazy his 3pt% is so low - he's money from beyond the arc... I didn't want this guy on the team at first - $17M for Danny Green minus the defense? However, he has been a fantastic sixth man, hitting some big shots and fitting in wherever he's neded.Grade: A-

Meyers Leonard: 6.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG (.447% / .294% / .741%)He's had his moments, but he's so damn soft. Leonard definitely has some offensive skills, but he's trash on the other end, and has trouble finishing inside.Grade: C-

Festus Ezeli: 5.4 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.3 BPG (.442% / .000% / .455%)We got Ezeli to bolster the defense, but he didn't prevent the team from being at the bottom of the league in defensive efficiency... He's injury prone, which we knew, and when he recovered from his first injury, he found himself coming off the bench due to his lack of an offensive game.Grade: C

Noah Vonleh: 4.8 PPG, 4.0 RPG (.467% / .449% / .885%)Vonleh didn't play a lot this season. He still has the potential to be a decent stretch 4, and is a better defensive player than Meyers Leonard. However, he makes a lot of silly mistakes and has a long way to go to be a solid contributor.Grade: C+

Shabazz Napier: 4.3 PPG, 3.0 APG (.386% / .326% / .842%)Shabazz has been in and out of the rotation all year. He does a decent job of running the offense, but his shot has been off all year, which has continued to hold him back.Grade: C-

Dorell Wright: 3.8 PPG, 1.8 RPG (.414% / .432% / .842%)Wright came in and replaced Moe Harkless as the backup small forward. He doesn't get a lot of minutes, but his ability to make threes makes him a new positive.Grade: Pass

JaVale McGee: 3.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, .5 BPG (.540% / .000% / .531%)The Blazers don't miss a beat with McGee in at Center. However, there hasn't been a ton of minutes for the former Shaqtin' MVP due to the logjam at the big man positions.Grade: Pass

Pat Connaughton: 5.2 PPG (.528% / .542% / .500%), 10 GPI had written this guy off, but damn, he can really shoot! He has only gotten minutes in garbage time and games McCollum missed, but he's looked solid!Grade: Incomplete

Tonight, the first annual NBA award show took place, and it was a riveting watch, posting ratings that rivaled the draft lottery. The awards, originally slated for June were moved up to April so as to not undermine the fact that these are regular season awards.

No surprise here. Ben Simmons has been fantastic right out of the box for the 76ers, leading a team most expected to be at the bottom of the pack, to a surprise playoff berth. The future looks very bright for Simmons.

Yes, the Suns were ass this year. However, Brandon Knight's willingness to come off the bench despite being a starting caliber player is worth something, and thus, this award is his. I would have probably chosen Ginobili, but whatever.

It was a very disappointing season for the Clippers, which saw the team miss all-star Blake Griffin for most of the season and the team miss out on the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. However, DeAndre was a major bright spot, leading the league in blocks and rebounds and keeping them afloat for much of the year.

Okay, this is baffling. This award has yielded questionable winners in the past, to be sure. However, Kyle O'Quinn takes it to another level. With a few more minutes per game, O'Quinn went from being a marginal player to being a marginal player. He failed to average double digits in any statistical category, and is a big man who shoots 36% from the field. Such a shocker that O'Quinn himself was not present to accept the trophy.

Steve Kerr is the first back-to-back coach of the year winner in NBA history. While the Warriors did post the league's best record, their win total decreased by 8 despite the team replacing Harrison Barnes with Kevin Durant. Oh well, could be worse.

Averaging 28 points and nearly a triple double, there is no doubt that Russell Westbrook has been the league's most valuable player this season. Leading the Thunder to a better record than last year despite losing stars Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka, Westbrook had a season for the ages.

The Portland Trail Blazers are taking on the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2017 Playoffs, a rematch of the 2014 series in which Damian Lillard destroyed Rockets' fans hopes and dreams in the span of five seconds.

The 53 win Trail Blazers will have homecourt advantage against the 45 win Rockets, and are favored in this series. However, the Rockets did win the season series, and will be hard to stop with James Harden and Mike D'Antoni's high-powered offense. With Portland boasting the league's top rated offense, one should expect this to be a very high scoring series. First team to 120 points wins?

Patrick Beverley is one of the league's top defenders at the point guard position, but will have his hands full with Damian Lillard. The Rockets' Harden and Blazers' McCollum will also post match-up challenges in what should be a chess match. The victor will take on the winner of the Thunder/Timberwolves series in the second round.

At the hostile Moda Center, the place where Damian Lillard ended their 2014 season with one shot (gotta bring that up as many times as possible), the Rockets came out like they had something to prove, blocking shots and hitting three pointers at will. Thanks to their high-powered offense and a poor shooting night from Damian Lillard, the Rockets led by 12 at the half.

The third quarter saw the Blazers struggle to make inroads, as a turnover or timely three would stretch the lead back out again. It wasn't until the fourth quarter, when the team, frustrated and down by 10, turned their brain to… neutral, and started taking dumb shots and committing bad turnovers. Stotts pulled them and inserted a bench lineup that included Pat Connaughton, who made 7 of his 10 threes in the regular season finale. He got the crowd fired up with a pair of triples. This led to an inspired sequence that saw the Trail Blazers lock down on D, and a double digit deficit become a five point lead.

Still, with 5 minutes left, it wasn't over, and Stotts put his starters back on to finish the job. While Lillard eventually did manage 13 points and 8 assists, it was fellow starters Evan Turner, Ed Davis and CJ McCollum that helped them close the deal. Davis was money from close range (14 points on 7-9 shooting), Turner had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals and McCollum posted his standard 24/3/5 on good efficiency. The Rockets found themselves in a similar situation as the Blazers, but with less time, and they were unable to regain the lead - a backcourt violation by the Rockets sealed the deal.

With their 113-105 win, the Blazers take a 1-0 lead in this best of seven series. Game 2 is also in Portland, before heading to Houston for games 3 and 4.

Early on, it seemed like the Rockets were destined to knot the series at a game apiece. James Harden and Ryan Anderson were scoring at will, and on the rare occasion where they'd miss a shot, Clint Capela was right there with the offensive rebound. Portland's complete lack of defense saw them down 20 at the end of the first quarter.

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum kept the game within reach for Portland, but it was Capela who continued to haunt them, ultimately finishing with 18 points and 19 rebounds (10 offensive). Some inspired defense to end the third quarter by the bench closed the gap within five, and in the final period, the starters went to work.

Unsung hero Ed Davis was an absolute beast on the defensive end, blocking 6 shots and racking up 4 steals. Evan Turner had 19 low-key points, and the Meyers Leonard-Noah Vonleh tandem at the 4 were passable. However, it was the star backcourt duo of Lillard and McCollum that made this comeback win a reality. Outscoring the Rockets 33-20, Portland shot 13-16 from the field in the final period and sank all their free throws as the Rockets could not keep up with them down the stretch. An Allen Crabbe steal followed by a Damian Lillard layup sealed the deal with a minute to play as the Rockets fall into a 2-0 deficit.

Lillard and McCollum each scored 31 points, the former chipping in a playoff career high 15 assists. Harden and Anderson led the Rockets in scoring with 27 and 24 points respectively. The Blazers overcame the Rockets' rebounding edge by shooting 55% from the field. "The defense could have been better. I mean, giving up 55% is alright, but it's pushing it", said Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni following the game.

Portland takes a 2-0 lead in this series, with games 3 and 4 to be held in Houston. Winning at least one of the two games there would put the Rockets on the ropes, and with Al-Farouq Aminu reportedly slated to make his return in game 3, there's a lot to be excited about for the Blazers faithful.

Yeah, game 1 was the funnest game I've played so far in 2K17. I thought I might have finally had defense figured out after that comeback. However, the Rockets punched us in the face to start game 2, and I had to beat them on offense.

No team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit, and for the Rockets to advance, they, not Portland, will need to be the real trail blazers here.

Okay, bad joke, but you know what else is bad? The Houston Rockets in the first quarter. One of the league's most potent offensive teams mustered just 13 points in the first period, souring things from the start. James Harden was held to just 8 points in the first half, while Damian Lillard ran amok. Nonetheless, the Rockets kept it close, closing the gap to 5 at one point in the third quarter. However, the Trail Blazers always had an answer.

Harden started to heat up in the fourth quarter, but his attempts to put the team on his back fell short, as his team simply couldn't get stops on the other end. Lillard was doing his best Steph Curry impression, hitting pull-up threes with ease, while McCollum was inexplicably left open on numerous occasions, making the Rockets pay. In the end, the game wasn't as close as the score suggested, as the Blazers were in control the entire game.

Also noteworthy was the return of starting power forward Al-Farouq Aminu, who had missed the past few weeks with an ankle injury. He looked as spry as ever, scoring 19 points and getting to the line 9 times.

With their season on the line, the Rockets will hope to avoid the sweep in game 4. They will have their home crowd behind them, but unless they can find a way to contain Lillard and the Rockets, it appears that Houston may have a problem…

Up two with eight seconds to go, Patrick Beverley was sent to the free throw line. Being the best player for his team up to that point, with 26 points and 9-10 from the charity stripe - it appeared that he would ice the game. First shot - brick. Okay, well, he can still make it a three point game. Brick. Portland got the rebound and took a timeout. Here we go…

Rockets fans can take a collective sigh of relief… at least for a couple days, as their team managed to do something it hasn't done much of lately - get a stop. Indeed, the Damian Lillard isolation was so predictable that even Mike D'Antoni saw it coming, and while he may have gotten past Beverley, he was blocked at the rim by Clint Capela. We're heading back to Portland.

This game was damn close throughout. With Portland's atrocious 5-27 shooting from beyond the arc, you'd expect this to be a blowout, but Damian Lillard, and his apparent life goal to make Rockets fans lives miserable, was able to get to the line at will and kept his team afloat despite its shooting woes. He would finish with a game high 35 points, but it was his counterpart Patrick Beverley, who, missed free throws aside, was the star of the game.

And so after a game with too many lead changes to count, the Rockets now find themselves in a 3-1 hole, which, as meme culture loves to remind us, is not an insurmountable deficit. However, they will be huge underdogs going into game 5 at the Moda Center.

Damian Lillard played like a man possessed, scoring 31 points and falling just one rebound short of a triple double, as the Portland Trail Blazers dispatched the Houston Rockets in game 5.

Portland led 28-17 after the first. While the Rockets couldn't seem to buy a basket, the Blazers were rolling all throughout the first half, leading by 17 at intermission. Houston, not ready to give up yet, opened the third quarter on a 16-5 run. They were able to keep it close, but the Blazers, red hot from behind the arc, were able to maintain their lead. Any time it looked like Houston might pull ahead, a Blazer would hit a big shot to get momentum back on their side.

Up eight going into the fourth, the Blazers put in their starters, and put the game away with a nice run fueled by a pair of egregious James Harden turnovers. Credit Clint Capela, arguably Houston's MVP in this series, for keeping the score respectable with his work on the boards, but the Rockets proved to be clearly outmatched in this series.

Lillard led the way with 31 points, 13 assists, 9 boards and 5 steals, but six different Blazers scored in double digits. James Harden, meanwhile, capped a rather pedestrian series with 21 points on 9-20 shooting. "I played like crap. No way around it. Is that gonna stop me from hitting up the strip club? Well, what do you think? But still, this loss stings. Still, I like where the team is headed - coach (D'Antoni) and I really see eye to eye on a lot of things. We'll be back," commented Harden in the post-game presser.

Portland will face the winner of the Timberwolves/Thunder series. The heavily favored Thunder hold a 3-2 lead, but have lost the last two in a series that has suddenly become interesting.